Mechanic

[RC racer]

Hi

I am 16years old and live in Swindon, Wiltshire I am planning to do a motorsport course in sepember at lackham colege.

I was wondering if anybody could give me any advice on how to get into motorsport?

What do teams prefer expereince or qualifications?

Is there any good techical motorpsort books out there I could read.

Any help welcome.

James

[belleair302]

James it does depend upon whether you want to move into engineering or do the nuts and bolts of mechanics. Initially you need a recognised qualification and then some hands on experience at Formula Ford, or an official class of racing as a holiday or weekend job and then work your way up. Its more about who you know than what you know but you do need racing experience with as many teams and cars as possible.

[JWB]

Get yourself to your local race track and or hillclimb and get yourself seen and known. Be well presented, introduce yourself and offer to help for free. Appear keen, someone will let you hang around or help. There may be a lot of non glamourous jobs but you need to do these first.

Hillclimbers are generally very friendly and maybe the best place to start.

[RC racer]

Hi

i think i want to do mechanics as i prefer more hands on stuff, at the moment I am helping out a saloon team at Castle combe for the season. Also i might be helping out a bigger team at other circuits but not sure yet. I mainly want to do GT and TC cars.

James

[smhmotorsport]

Sounds like your getting a foot in the door already. With motorsport its more about who you know than what. You could have every qualification out there but if no-one is able to say " Yeah I know him he's OK" then chances are they'll give the job to someone they know. Get your face about in the pitlane, get some experience and put a decent CV together. Its not easy as there are so many good guys out there, but if its what you want to do then stick at it. And be prepared to travel, as the majority of work is around the Banbury area. Good Luck!

[RC racer]

Ok thanks for that

[NightDriver]

As everyone says, get experience and get known. I started working (non paid) for a race team when I was 15, lots of hard work but it pays off. You never know who your going to meet or whats around the corner. Five years later and I've been very lucky, I've managed to have worked in F1, numerous british track and rally championships and I'm currently working in btcc. If you are prepared to put in some hard work and very long hours then it pays of in the end.

If you want to know how I went about it then drop me an email. I can also recommend some good books and a few computer programmes you might want to have a play with.